Sunday, April 29, 2012

Q. She received a telegram from Uday Shankar in Europe: "Leaving for Japan tour. Can you join immediately?" Thus on 8 August 1935, she joined his troupe and danced across Japan, Egypt, Europe and the US, as a leading lady, along with French dancer, Simkie.

In India, she joined the leftist theatre group, IPTA, acted in several plays, and made her film debut in IPTA's first film production, directed by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas, Dharti Ke Lal in 1946; she followed it up with another IPTA-supported film, Chetan Anand's Neecha Nagar. In the same year, it became the first Indian film to gain critical international recognition and won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.